Robert D. “Bob” Bishop, 74, of Irwinville, Georgia died Sunday, October, 4, 2009 at Tift Regional Medical Center.
Funeral services will be held at 11 A.M., Tuesday, October 6 at Irwinville Baptist Church with Elder Edward McIntyre and Rev. Jeff Cummings officiating. Interment will follow in the Irwinville Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 7-9 Monday evening at the funeral home in Fitzgerald.
Mr. Bishop was born July 10, 1935 in Greenwood County, South Carolina to the late Paul Douglas & Ebbie Lee DeLoach Bishop. He was a 1953 graduate of Cottageville High School in Cottageville, SC. Mr. Bishop retired as a Master Sergeant with 20 years of service in the United States Air Force serving during the Korean War & Vietnam War eras. He moved to the community in 1973 and worked for Alcoa Aluminum in Tifton and for the Production Credit Association in Tifton, Ocilla, and Fitzgerald. He was former owner/operator of Northside Superette in Tifton. Mr. Bishop was a member, deacon, and sang in the choir of Irwinville Baptist Church, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the American Legion Post 99 and a former member of the Fitzgerald Lions Club.
Mr. Bishop is survived by his wife: Betty Jean Waller Bishop of Irwin County; children and their spouses: Steven B. & Rachel O’Banion Bishop of Bloomington, Indiana, Barbara Jean Bishop Williams of Valdosta, Phillip T. & Teresa Wakefield Bishop of Jackson County, and Timothy Paul Bishop of Lumpkin County; grandchildren: Hannah Bishop and Zachary Bishop of Bloomington, Indiana, Erin Williams and Daniel Williams of Valdosta, Rachael Bishop and Leah Bishop of Jackson County, and Katie Bishop of Lumpkin County; brother and sister-in-law: Carl Stuart & Anna Mickalis Bishop of Summerville, South Carolina; niece: Holly Bishop Weaver of Summerville, SC; and great-nieces: Anna Catherine Weaver and Chelsea Leah Scott, both of Summerville, SC. In addition to his parents, Mr. Bishop was preceded in death by a nephew: Richard Stuart Bishop.